It’s been one hell of a week with America blowing its own Trump-it and Delhi choking under a smog that can apparently be seen from space. To top it all, a noteworthy change came about in our country when the big notes were declared unworthy here onward. We haven’t had this much good news since Brexit and it certainly calls for a toast. Thankfully, we have some of the most Tiki drinks in the city to get us through it all. Why them and not any other drinks? Because when you get such blows to the stomach from the world, you get back with an equally strong punch.

5. Exotica @ The Daily Bar & Kitchen
Tiki drinks are essentially potent rum-based drinks with fruits and a lot of tropical flavours. The Exotica, which brings together white rum, Malibu, strawberry, pineapple juice, yogurt and banana will get you in the Island mood. You could, then, be daring enough to try out the Yellowbird, a great blend of white rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, banana and anise; or simply go in for one of the quintessential Tiki cocktails – the MaiTai. It’s not like the original one created to showcase a 17-year-old rum by Trader Vic, one of the early propagators of the Tiki culture. But this version with dark rum, white rum, Orgeat, pineapple and orange juices will get you in the tropical zone.

4. Pirate @ Myx
My mind map goes Tiki – Carribean – pirates. Doesn’t yours? In keeping with the Tiki culture, the jars for the rest of these cocktails are like the Tiki totem in Hawaii but this one is meant for Captain Jack Sparrow fans, savvy? It’s a vodka based drink but the apple, cinnamon, hazelnut and cranberry that go with it could have you singing ‘A Pirate’s life for me’. Not a movie buff? Simply like the Pacific waters? Go for the Typhoon – a heady storm of flavours with Malibu, Grenadine, white rum, orange and tonic water.

3. Tiki Mexicana @ Asado: The Cocktail Street
Try mixing drinks and you’re going to wake up with a hangover the next morning. Try mixing cultures in a drink and that hangover is going to be so worth it! I usually am not in favour of using culture stereotypes for selling things but when this exhilarating mix of white rum, tequila, cranberry and orange juice makes its way towards me in a hat, I’m going to slurp it all up. Their other Tiki cocktails are worth a try too, but this one’s my personal favourite.

2. I Like To Move It @ Anncensored
Ann-like the name, nothing is uncensored on their specially curated Tiki-bar menu with some pretty adult drinks. Madagascar is big on the Tiki drinks and to have a drink named after a song from the namesake movie is classic. What’s more classic is the feeling of island life in your mouth with gold, white and dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and coconut cream. This is as heady as it gets – or is it? You could follow it up with Rise Of The Missionaries, which is a combination of Jägermeister, gold rum and pineapple juice, and then decide.

1. Polynesian Pearl Diver @ Bastian
This is to Tiki drinks in Mumbai, what Napa valley is to wines in California. People might know the drink from Django Unchained, but it’s also one of the classics form the original Tiki-bar of the world – Don The Beachcomber. This blend of rum, lime, fresh orange juice, honey butter, vanilla syrup and bitters is what you’d want to sip on a Hawaiian beach (or on Bandstand) till the sun comes up, but then how would you follow it up with all the other yummy Tiki drinks? There’s Michelada (hot sauce, lime, lemon, tomato juice, Worcestershire, soy sauce and beer), Coco-oh (coconut washed rum, coconut washed Bacardi, coconut flesh, coconut water, vanilla syrup, almond syrup, coco real, coconut milk), Head Hunter (Jim Beam, orange, lemon, lime, bitters) and more.

These Tiki drinks and not those meh Tinder candidates are what you swipe right for in the next few days.*Quirk Special Mention – The South Pacific Rim at any of the Socialoutlets in the city, with its beautiful blend of Bacardi Carta Blanca, Captain Morgan, pineapple juice, orange juice and Grenadine can also make you feel pretty Polynesian (Another of the Tiki culture origins, people! Read up a bit before you drink).